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US 'fiscal cliff' bill goes to lower house

US lawmakers are hoping to resolve any uncertainty over the so-called "fiscal cliff" before financial markets reopen.

The House of Representatives is considering urgent legislation approved by the Senate in a middle-of-the-night New Year's drama unlike any other in the history of congress.

But as Democrats in the House urged a vote on Tuesday afternoon, the No.2 House Republican, Eric Cantor, emerged from a party meeting saying he opposed the Senate bill.

Rejection by the Republican-controlled House would mean that any fiscal deal would have to start again when a new congress, with dozens of new members, is seated on Thursday.

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The largely tax-focused legislation under discussion on Tuesday is only part of the grand deal President Barack Obama had hoped to make with lawmakers on addressing the country's chronic deficit spending. That means his administration and a bitterly partisan congress face more showdowns on fiscal issues in the months ahead.

Economists, who had warned that the "fiscal cliff" combination of higher taxes on almost all Americans and deep spending cuts taking effect at the start of the year would spin the country back into recession, were warning that even a limited agreement to avoid it could still dent economic growth.

The deal under consideration on Tuesday tackled one of the most sensitive issues: higher taxes. The measure would be the first significant bipartisan tax increase since 1990. It would prevent taxes from going up on the poor and middle class but would raise rates on households making more than $US450,000 a year.

It also would also put off for two months more than $US100 billion ($A96.90 billion) in automatic spending cuts that were set to hit the Pentagon and domestic programs starting this week, and it would extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.

The measure cleared the Senate on an 89-8 vote not long after midnight on Tuesday, hours after Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, veteran negotiators, sealed a deal.

The top Republican in congress, House Speaker John Boehner, briefed his party members on Tuesday, while Biden met with House Democrats. A Boehner aide said Republican leaders would not decide their course until a second meeting later in the day.

Boehner pointedly refrained from endorsing the agreement, though he promised a vote on it or a Republican alternative right away. He was expected to encounter opposition from House conservatives, who oppose any tax increase at all.